ng through the streets,
and singing or whistling merrily as they march. If the Boers get word of
this they may have another scare. The daily bombardment is now so much a
matter of course that one hardly makes a note of it unless some casualty
brings home to us the fact that nobody is safe while shells fly about.

_December 7._--During a heavy cannonade in which our naval batteries
engaged Gun Hill and Bulwaan from six o'clock until ten this morning,
women and children were walking about the streets quite unconcerned.
Hundreds of shells have already fallen in the town, and there are some
zealous statisticians who compile charts showing exactly where each
shell struck and the direction from which it was fired, but the majority
of us do not concern ourselves much about any that burst beyond a radius
of fifty yards from our own camps or houses, and so many fall harmless
that we seldom ask whether anybody has been hit, and it sometimes
happens therefore that one does not hear of serious casualties except by
accident. It comes rather as a surprise to find that our losses since
the siege began, thirty-six days ago, amount to thirteen killed and one
hundred and forty-eight wounded. A battle might have been won at less
cost.

This evening the 6-inch Creusot on Gun Hill was very active, directing
its fire toward headquarters at first, and then turning it on a building
which has just been selected for the new Post Office, to be opened when
communications are restored. It had a narrow escape of being blown to
ruins by a shell that entered through the roof and exploded inside.

CHAPTER VII

THE SORTIES OF DECEMBER

Retribution--Sir Archibald Hunter's bold scheme--A night
attack--Silently through the darkness--At the foot of Gun Hill--A
broken ascent--"Wie kom dar?" "The English are on us!"--Major
Henderson thrice wounded--Destroying "Leviathan"--Hussars suffer
under fire--Rejoicings in town--Sir George White's address to the
troops--Boer compliments--A raid for provender--A second
sortie--The Rifles' bold enterprise--An unwelcome light--Cutting
the wires--Surprise Hill reached--The sentry's challenge--The
Rifles' charge--Boer Howitzer destroyed--The return to
camp--Cutting the way home--Serious losses.

This constant shelling of the town could not go on for ever without
some attempt being made to stop it. Mr. Pearse had himself urged
the practicability o